Artstreet moves from Washington to Jefferson, adds polka music and more food vendors

GREEN BAY - It's almost time for Artstreet, the festival that so vibrantly brings downtown streets to life with artwork, artists and art lovers and gently reminds us that summer is winding down, all in the same weekend.

Green Bay's unofficial finale to the season of summer fun returns Aug. 23 to 25 for its 38th year. The fine arts festival hosted by Mosaic Arts Inc. has attracted as many as 75,000 people in the past, as visitors come to browse, buy, eat, listen to music, appreciate local culture and almost certainly bump into somebody they know.

This year's juried art fair will feature 187 artists from across the country, many of them familiar faces who exhibit year after year. Silvija Jensen, the new Mosaic Arts executive director who started in January, is looking forward to meeting them during her first Artstreet. She got a head start at Arti Gras, the smaller, wintertime version of Artstreet held in March at the KI Convention Center.

"To meet the artists and see them enjoy it and to have a successful event. That's what I'm looking forward to," she said. "Seeing people have fun. It’s a well-known and fun event.”

Artstreet is steeped in tradition, so don't expect any sweeping changes this year, but here are five things that will be new.

1. The layout shifts from Washington Street to Jefferson Street. Artstreet remains anchored in the same general downtown area as the past, on Adams and Cherry streets, but unlike recent years, activities will no longer spill onto Washington Street. Instead, the Prevea Health and HSHS St. Vincent Children’s Hospital Children’s Area and the Community Stage will move to Jefferson Street, which was utilized by earlier Artstreets. Since the Children’s Museum of Green Bay has moved from its Washington location, there was no longer a need to have children’s art activities nearby Jensen said. They will be moved into the heart of the art fair area.

Because Washington has become such a busy thoroughfare with recent residential development, the city wouldn't be able to close it until 1 p.m. Aug. 23, giving Artstreet just two hours to scramble to setup before the event opens at 3 p.m., Jensen said. Jefferson is a quieter street and can close at 8 a.m. The opening of The Hotel Northland this year also meant some re-configuring on Pine Street so as not to block access for hotel guests.

2. Polka music joins the party, and Big Mouth is back. The New Generation Polka Band is playing the Community Stage from 5 to 7 p.m. Aug. 23, and it just may be an Artstreet first. “I don’t know that they’ve ever done polka,” Jensen said. “We had people asking, ‘Why don’t you have polka?’ I don’t know. We should.’”

Big Mouth & The Power Tool Horns are hardly first-timers to Artstreet, but they haven’t been on the schedule in years. Jensen is excited to have them back from 7 to 10 p.m. Aug. 23 on the Main Stage. The music lineup also includes Artstreet regulars Rob Anthony, Erin Krebs and Brass Differential.

This year's Artstreet logo was painted by Elizabeth Morris, a sophomore at Southwest High School.(Photo: Courtesy of Mosaic Arts Inc.)

3. A few words about the logo. OK, so technically, the logo is new every year, but it’s not often that the winning artist is 15 years old. Elizabeth Morris, a sophomore at Southwest High School, submitted the winning design as part of the final project for her art class. The Artsrteet selection committee chose her painting from about 50 entries.

“I wanted to use bright colors, because it’s Artstreet, and just wanted to embody the feel, and I wanted to kind of make the actual picture look like downtown where it’s going to be,” Morris said.

When she found out she won, she couldn’t wait to tell her art teacher (he already gave her an A), and her parents, Danielle and Daniel Morris, of Green Bay, are pretty proud, too. She’s especially looking forward to Artstreet this year. “It’s just going to be unreal to see my art all over,” she said.

4. Did somebody say more food? The Artstreet Pub & Grill will have the essentials covered — burgers, brats, beer and wine — and it’s also adding veggie burgers. In addition to the usual array of eats that span Mediterranean to kettle corn to fudge, four new food vendors have been added: Taste of Ethiopia, The Dough Shoppe, The Cookie Crate and deep-fried cheese curds. Don’t forget fresh-squeezed lemonade, the signature sip of Artstreet.

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Artists will exhibit everything from fiber art and basketry to paintings and jewelry at Artstreet.(Photo: Jim Matthews/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin)

5. There’s an indoor Artstreet Oasis. Spring Lake Church, 301 N. Adams St., finds itself smack in the middle of Artstreet, so it decided to embrace its location. Its entire downtown campus will be open to the public during art fair hours for something the church is calling Artstreet Oasis. There will be children’s crafts, safe shelter should it get too hot or start raining and indoor restrooms. Spring Lake’s church service at 8 a.m. Aug. 25 is open to everyone.

Want to volunteer?

Artstreet is still looking for volunteers to staff the pub and grill, lemonade stand, information booth and raffle as well as help with setup and tear-down. Volunteers work 2½-hour shifts and receive a free T-shirt. To sign up, visit mosaicartsinc.org/artstreet/volunteer or call 920-435-5220.

Contact Kendra Meinert at 920-431-8347 or kmeinert@greenbay.gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @KendraMeinert.